From a Caterpillar to a Butterfly ~ A Spiritual Journey …

Someone told me recently, that they were shocked and rather scared when out of the blue, a caterpillar landed on them. It got me thinking about our life-long Spiritual Journeys … A strange analogy you may think … but is it?

When we start on our Spiritual journey, very often, it is not something we conciously ‘decide’ to do. Suddenly, and without warning, we may become aware of our values are changing, or the way we approach life, a realisation that we view our experiences in a different light. It may start with a particular experience, where it seems that everything changes overnight … or it may seem to happen in dribs and drabs, subtly with just a few thoughts that make us wonder about things we were once fine with, but are now rather unsettling (both ways can seem equally daunting) … the ‘Caterpillar’.

Difficult at the time, but often when we look back, we are able to see the overall beauty and deeper meaning behind our challenging ideas & thoughts … The start of our development, is often a time of huge change; maybe we have to find new ways to live; we may find our relationships change as we change – often in challenging ways; it can be very difficult to maintain the status quo when everything else is changing … and like a Caterpillar, we likely need a safe place … somewhere, or someone who will lovingly allow and encourage us to explore and to grapple with our new understanding, and our changing thoughts. We need to nurture ourselves, to be kind, to provide opportunity and challenge to grow and develop. Metaphorically speaking, we need a ‘Cocoon’.

For Spiritual Development, our Transformation doesn’t happen overnight. It is built on a lifetime of experience and pervades every ounce of our being. To others, it may seem that we are concerned with only one thing, our emerging Spirituality, and that our ‘real self’ goes into hibernation. There has to be balance. As above, so below … Balancing our earthly everyday duties, in combination with our emerging Spiritual self is a challenge of its own!!

Yet in managing this, we find this is where the magic happens., Behind the scenes, Spirit will be working away, bringing new and relevant experiences to us, gathering exactly the right nourishment (information) needed for our personal Spiritual Journey ... And eventually, the time comes when we are sufficiently ready to unfurl our wings, ready to take our first tentative fluttery flight … We are transformed; no longer are we grappling with a scary Caterpillar … we are well on the way to transforming … We have become a beautiful Butterfly, ready to fly …